The purpose of Throwback Thursday couldn't be more simplistic - it's about the fun of looking at old images and recognizing their power to be mini time machines, transporting us to another place. Well, that's the more sophisticated way to put it. The truth is, old images are a kick to look at; think about the stories they represent and then, keep that in perspective with your clients.

This one is from 2004. In all honesty, I have no idea what dive trip we were on, except that it was somewhere in the Caribbean and taken by my good pal, Kayce Baker. I wound up calling it "Skip's Turtle" which is hardly accurate since this guy let a few of us swim with him. However, an encounter with turtles, dolphins, eels or any big sociable critter in the ocean is one of those very special things that keeps you diving.

Every Throwback image always brings out stories. This one, in particular, got me thinking about friends I haven't seen in a long time, which prompted me to share a few great stories with Sheila about the dive trips we used to do. At one point, we probably had twenty divers on the "call list" any time when a trip was being put together. In fact, in the early 2000's we did a lot of diving with the Aggressor Fleet. As a result, they treated us like a retail dive shop, not just with the discounts, but often with control of the schedule and itinerary for the trip.

Tim Walden, in a recent podcast, talked about the value of an image, in this case, a fine art portrait. He and Beverly don't sell fine art prints; they sell family heirlooms destined to be handed down to future generations. If you haven't listened to the podcast, just click on the link below. It's a pretty remarkable approach to establishing a higher value for your work.

While "Skip's Turtle" is hardly a family heirloom, it still helps make the point. Take a few minutes this morning and go through that box of old images. Then, share the story on your blog for your clients to read. It's great content and the perfect reminder of the magic you bring to their lives along with the power of every image.

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"Why?"

Check out"Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog.It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're coming up on 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

Authors

Skip Cohen is President of SCU, founder of Marketing Essentials International and past president of Rangefinder Publishing and WPPI. He's been an active participant in the photographic industry since joining Hasselblad USA in 1987 as president. He has co-authored six books on photography and actively supports dozens of projects each year involving photographic education.

Scott Bourne

Scott Bourne was the first Dean of Marketing at SCU. He helped to establish this blog as a resource for aspiring and working professional photographers. He's an educator, artist, author and from time to time you'll see his name on guest posts that are always relevant to photography and marketing!